A testator suffering from depression and expressing suicidal ideation may still possess testamentary capacity where the depression has not been shown to have affected intellectual reasoning ability and where alleged delusions had a possible rational basis and were not fixed or unshakeable at the date of the will. The distinction between delusional beliefs and persecutory ideation that has a rational basis is critical to the assessment. A will that is rational on its face and contains a reasoned explanation for the exclusion of a potential beneficiary supports a finding of capacity even where the testator's mental state subsequently deteriorated.
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